The Forgotten Five

CHAPTER 5- Hope

Hope mentally facepalmed as she recalled what Emily had said. She didn't like Michael, she liked Liam! She really hoped that Michael didn't like her, her life was complicated enough without having anything added to it.

Her thoughts changed to the twins' mansion, only to be interrupted by a groaning Emily, "How many more stairs do we have to climb? I'm tired!"

Laura nodded her ascent. "Don't worry Em, I hate stairs as well"

Hope hid her smile behind her hands, their whining didn't lack reason. She was quite certain that she would have been as tired as they were, if not more, if she didn't run on a daily basis. Stamina was rather important for marathons after all.

Hope's eyes glazed over as she recalled her first marathon. She had been so terrified. She was 10 years old and it had taken all of her courage to not run away from the 3km race track.

She remembered the pride on her mother's face as she won first place, holding the tiny trophy as her mom paraded her to the victory feast. Hope grinned, just because her childhood was rather lonely didn't mean that she didn't have her moments of happiness.

Shaking back to reality at Emily's reignited wails, Hope smirked as she raced up the stairs and looked down at Laura and Emily, giving a dramatic bow as she spoke in her olden accent. "I'm afraid that I am unable to relate to your majesties for my youth ensures that I can climb another hundred staircases"

Hope's bright green eyes shimmered in mirth as Laura and Emily turned red.

"Oh just you wait till I get to you, you foul-" Laura started yelling as she sprinted up the stairs in a sudden burst of energy.

Laughing, Hope continued darting up the spiral of stairs as she evaded an angry Laura and panting Emily.

Her laughter was sadly cut off when Michael's muffled voice yelled that they had gone too high from many floors beneath her.

Hope skid to a stop as she mentally counted the amount of floors she would have to climb back down.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four...

All the way to seven.

Hope groaned, just because she had the stamina to climb didn't mean she enjoyed it. That added with a whiny Laura and Emily who were cursing her made it even more annoying.

Trudging down the elegant oaken stairs, Hope traced her palms along the smooth curves of the railing, admiring its delicate craftsmanship.

Whoever made this must have a lot of patience, she mused as she skipped down the steps. She sighed, she was at least not being chased by Laura and Emily anymore.

Remembering her pursuers, Hope turned to look at them a floor above her. It seemed that while climbing stairs had made them slightly faster, they were still walking at a snail's pace.

Hope smirked as she had a brilliant idea of riling Laura.

"Hey Laura!" she called in a sing-song voice, grinning crazily.

Internally giggling at the suspicious look that she received, she continued, "I had thought that you would have had amazing stamina, considering that you are the captain of the swimming team and all".

As she had predicted, the blond became red as she glared at Hope. "For your information, I swam 60 laps in the morning today, which is why I am tired, even though that's not a lot".

Hope's eyes widened to the size of a baseball as she almost choked. What-

Seeing her expression, Laura continued acidly, "You don't honestly think that I became captain just like that do you? I swim laps in the morning everyday. I usually swim 120 laps, but we had to come to the twins' house, so I only swam for half an hour today".